Silkie Hen
The Silkie (sometimes alternatively
spelled Silky) is a breed of chicken named
for its atypically fluffy plumage, which is said to feel like silk. The breed has
several other unusual qualities, such as dark blue flesh and bones, blue
earlobes, and five toes on each foot, whereas most chickens only have four.
They are often exhibited in poultry shows, and exist in several colors including red,
buff, blue, grey, black, white, and many mottled variations.
In addition to their distinctive physical
characteristics, Silkies are well known for their calm, friendly temperament.
Among the most docile of poultry, Silkies are considered an ideal pet. Hens are
also exceptionally broody, and make good mothers. Though they are fair layers
themselves, laying about three eggs a week, they are commonly used to hatch
eggs from other breeds and bird species. Silkies come in both a full-sized and
diminutive forms, the latter being typically known as Silkie Bantams.
History
It is unknown exactly where or when fowl with
their singular combination of attributes first appeared, but the most well
documented point of origin as ancient China (hence another occasionally
encountered name for the bird, Chinese silk chicken). Other places in Southeast
Asia have been named as possibilities, such as India and Java. The earliest
surviving written account of Silkies comes from Marco Polo,
who wrote of a furry chicken in the 13th century, during his travels in Asia. In
1599, Ulisse Aldrovandi, a writer and naturalist at
the University of Bologna, Italy, published a
comprehensive treatise on chickens which is still read and admired
today. In it, he spoke on "wool-bearing chickens" and ones
"clothed with hair like that of a black cat".
Silkies most likely made their way to the
West via the Silk Route and maritime trade. The breed was
recognized officially in North America with acceptance into the Standard of Perfection in 1874. Once
Silkies became more common in the West, many myths were perpetuated about them.
Early Dutch breeders told buyers they were the offspring of chickens and rabbits, while sideshows promoted
them as having actual mammalian fur.
In the 21st century, Silkies are one of the
most popular and ubiquitous ornamental breeds of chicken. They are often kept
as ornamental fowl or pet chickens by backyard keepers, and are also commonly
used to incubate and raise the offspring of other chickens and waterfowl like ducks and geese and game birds such
as quail and pheasants.
Characteristics
Silkies are often mistakenly called a bantam breed,
and although some countries do consider them a bantam, this varies according to
region and many breed standards class them officially as large fowl; the bantam
Silkie is actually a separate variety most of the time. Almost all North
American strains of the breed are bantam sized, but in Europe the large is the
original version. However, even "large" Silkies are relatively small
chickens, with standard bantam size males weighing only four pounds
(1.8 kg), and females weigh three pounds (1.36 kg). The American Standard of Perfection calls
for males that are 36 ounces (1 kg), and females that are 32 ounces
(910 grams).
Silkie plumage presently is unique among chicken breeds, though there are growing
efforts to standarised silkie feathered varieties in other breeds such as Chabo. It has
been compared to silk, and to fur. Their feathers lack functioning barbicels, and
are thus similar to down on other birds and leave Silkies unable to
fly. The overall result is a soft, fluffy appearance.
Silkies appear in two distinct varieties:
Bearded and Non-bearded. Bearded Silkies have an extra muff of feathers under
the beak area that covers the earlobes. They also are separated according to
color. Colors of Silkie recognized for competitive showing include black, blue,
buff, grey, partridge, splash and white. Alternative hues, such as Cuckoo, Red,
and Lavender, also exist. All Silkies have a small Walnut-type comb,
dark wattles, and turquoise blue
earlobes. In addition to these defining characteristics, Silkies have five toes
on each foot. Other breeds which exhibit this rare trait include the Dorking, Faverolles, and Sultan.
All Silkies have black skin, bones and
grayish-black meat; their Chinese
language name is wu gu ji (烏骨雞, literally
"dark boned chicken"), meaning "black-boned chicken". Melanism
which extends beyond the skin into an animal's connective
tissue is a rare trait, and the Silkie is one of only a handful of
chickens to exhibit it. Disregarding color, the breed does not generally
produce as much as the more common meat breeds of chicken.
Silkies lay a fair number of cream-colored
eggs, but production is often interrupted due to their extreme tendency to go broody;
a hen will produce 100 eggs in an ideal year. Their capacity for incubation,
which has been selectively bred out of most egg-laying fowl,
is often exploited by poultry keepers by allowing Silkies to raise the
offspring of other birds. In addition to being good mothers, Silkies are
universally renowned for their calm, friendly temperament. They do well in
confinement, and interact very well with children. This docility can cause
Silkies to be bullied by more active or aggressive birds when kept in mixed
flocks.
Bantams
The Silkie bantam is a miniature variety of
the Silkie, which is similar to the large Silkie in almost every way, except
for size. In some countries, the Silkie bantam is the only or more common
variety of Silkie, such as North America, where the bantam variety is the most
popular. However in Australia the Silkie bantam is almost unknown, despite
being standardised.
In the American Standard of Perfection the
standard male weight for the bantam Silkie is 1 kg (36 oz) and for
the female, 907 g (32 oz). The Australian Poultry Standard and British Poultry Standard call for
Silkie bantams much smaller; in the Australian Poultry Standard, the standard
weights are 680 g (25 oz) for males and 570 g (20 oz) for females. The
British standard weight for bantam Silkies is 600 g (22 oz) for males, and
500 g for females (18 oz).
In cuisine
The black meat of a Silkie is generally
considered an unusual attribute in European and American cuisines. In
contrast, several Asian cuisines consider Silkie meat a gourmet food. Chinese
cuisine especially values the breed, but it is also a common
ingredient in some Japanese, Cambodian, Vietnamese and Korean dishes. Areas
where Chinese cuisine has been a strong influence, such as Malaysia, may
also cook Silkie. As early as the 7th century, traditional Chinese medicine has
held that chicken soup made with Silkie meat is a curative food. The usual methods of
cooking include using Silkie to make broth, braising, and
in curries.
Traditional Chinese soup made with Silkie also uses ingredients such as wolfberries, Dioscorea opposita (white yam), orange
peel, and fresh ginger. A few fusion restaurants
in metropolitan areas of the West have also cooked it as a part of traditional
American or French cuisine, such as in confit.
